Story Highlights

The largest public-works project in the City of Ithaca's history is about to enter its main phase following the selection of contractors for rebuilding the main water treatment plant and awarding of bids worth more than $17 million.

The biggest contract is with Welliver McGuire, of Montour Falls. The company won the bid on July 28 for the general construction of the plant. Its bid of $13.9 million was the lowest among four.

Combined with other construction, consulting, and design and planning contracts, work on interconnections in the water-delivery system, and improvements to the electrical system, the estimated total cost has been put at $36.7 million.

The cost is to be paid mainly through issuing municipal bonds. The effect on water bills of paying it back will be phased in, with the effects not felt for another couple of years, according to city Controller Steve Thayer.

The amount of increase in bills will depend on many factors, including interest rates the city must pay to bond holders, how many years payments will be stretched out and water usage.

The general construction bid comes also with several other components, including site work, mobilization, appliances and furnishings, excavation, rock removal, fill, concrete, below-subgrade excavation, and a contingency for repair of the existing settling basin and clearwell concrete.

For the electrical work, the low bidder was Shuler-Haas Electric Corp., of Rochester, at $1.88 million.

For heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Kimble Inc., of Elmira, won the contract for $1.06 million.

Ackerman Plumbing, of Tonawanda, won the plumbing portion at $605,000.

A gravel road was built last year from Slaterville Road/Route 79 to allow construction access to the reservoir that supplies city water, on Six Mile Creek.

The work followed several years of debate in the city on whether to rebuild the plant to meet modern water-quality standards or tie into the intermunicipal water consortium known as Bolton Point, which draws water from Cayuga Lake. The Ithaca Common Council opted to rebuild, taking advantage of the gravity-fed system tied to Six Mile Creek and maintaining control of its own water supply system, but rebuffing warnings of higher costs and much larger water bills for city residents.